Germany's Continental to expand Slovakia plant

Continental, the German maker of automative parts and tyres, will hire hundreds more workers and pour more money into its Slovak plant, the Slovakian government said Thursday.

The group plans to add 600 jobs and invest 250 million euros ($330 million) in its plant, the premier's office said in a statement on its website after Prime Minister Robert Fico met with Continental executives in Germany and inked a cooperation agreement.

The company, which already employs 5,000 people at the site in the northwestern town of Puchov, will receive a 20-million-euro tax break, it added.

The auto manufacturing sector employs 74,000 people in the eurozone nation of 5.4 million people.

Slovakia also hosts factories owned by Germany's Volkswagen, South Korea's Kia and Peugeot Citroen of France, which altogether rolled out 900,000 cars last year.